zScapes Adventures

Our journey began early in the morning after an overnight stay at the Santiago Airport Holiday Inn, for convenience sake. We hoped on Sky Airlines stoping @ Puerto Mont before our final destination, Puerto Natales. My family visited Puerto Mont several times while we were here in the late 60's. Like Santiago, it has grown immensely. I selected a window seat crossing my fingers as we crossed the Andes that I would have a view of Torres del Paine. I was not disappointed. The Explora team was there to pick us up for the 1 hour & 45 minute ride, with jaw dropping scenery along the way. The hotel is in a superb location and is nestled into the landscape, emphasizing natural wood construction using local Lena, cypress and almendrillo. All the rooms face the Cordillera Paine, a feast for the eyes.

For me, Torres del Paine evokes raw, wild, jagged mountains and has been on my list for many moons. From the first glimpse flying over, to standing at the Explora Hotel and seeing the panorama for the first time with my own eyes was a magical moment. I have been privileged to visit many parts of this blue globe and this ranks in the top three. For a photographer, it is mesmerizing and you could spend all day perched in one spot and capture a lifetime of images. One unfortunate happenstance, I picked up a bug/virus somewhere and came down with a nasty chest cold that kept me indoors for a few days. I was limited to poking around the hotel and/or shooting from the window, so I missed several days exploring other parts of the park. The images below reflect the 'mood of the mountains' over those days.

One interesting geological factoid to bring some perspective. As the Cordillera Paine is dated at 12 million years old, in comparison, the youngest mountain in Yosemite National Park (Johnson Peak) was formed 85 million years ago, with the majority of the Sierra Nevada in the 240 million year age range. Definitely a youngster on the block!

Some random images as I explored around the resort and ventured across the waters of Lake Pehoe to one of the Paine W trek hostel/campgrounds. They are very serious about 'anywhere camping' in this park and I applaud them in the name of preservation. Well done!

As I mentioned earlier, I was unable to venture too far for a few days, however, by the last day I had improved enough to get out. The plan for that day was a hike into the French Valley to shoot the Torres del Paine towers. However, given my recovery was not complete and the hike would be under snowing conditions with little chance to see the spires due to the weather and overcast, Katsu offered to have a guide and driver take me around to see some of the locales I missed. One of my compatriots, Jon, decided he was not up for the hike either and took advantage of the offer as well. It was snowing lightly, heavy overcast so no chance to get any spectacular mountain scenes, But it was good to get out and off we went to explore. We caught up with Guanaco herds, pictured landscape and saved the best for last.

As we started our drive back to the resort, our guide yelled out, Puma! Jon I both turned to where he was looking and had difficulty to acquire the target as the van moved in reverse. Finally, she came into view under a snow covered bush riding out the poor weather. At first she retreated further into the bush and then cautiously made her way out to move along. And the staff at the hotel told us she looked pregnant as the images below will attest. What a thrill and honor to capture the essence of this magnificent creature. And how ironic, I have been backpacking the high Sierra Nevada for 35+ years in search of seeing a Cougar and only coming up with tracks and scat.